The Tea Party Already Saved Taxpayers $300 Billion (Maybe a Half Trillion)

A “counterfactual” is an analysis of “what would have happened if.” President Obama’s claim that “the stimulus added as many as 3.3 million jobs” is the most famous example of this genre. 

Counterfactual analysis of the effects of the 2010 election on federal spending can be executed, unlike the jobs-saved analysis, on a more solid foundation with nothing more than a pocket calculator. The procedure is simple: First, we find what the Obama administration intended to spend in 2011 and 2012 on the eve of the November 2010 election (and not knowing that an electoral disaster lay in store). Second, we compare these figures with what was actually spent in 2011 and what is likely to be spent in 2012.  For example, if the administration planned to spend $3 trillion in 2011 but actually spent $2.5 trillion after the Republicans gained the House, the “counterfactual saving” for 2011 is $.5 trillion.

According to my arithmetic, the unanticipated Republican November 2010 sweep of the House with victories of fiscally-conservative freshmen saved or will save taxpayers at least $300 billion dollars for the two-year period 2011 and 2012 alone – a figure that may understate the saving by another two hundred billion.

go to Forbes.com

Romney Must Convince Conservatives He's Not A David Brooks Republican

Rick Santorum’s sweep of three nominating contests in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri on February 6 shows that Mitt Romney has not convinced the base that he is conservative. They fear Romney is a Moderate Republican dressed in sheep’s clothing for the primaries. Conservatives and Tea Party activists worry that Romney is a David Brooks Republican. (Brooks is the New York Times’ token Republican columnist).
Just a few lines from Brook’s Times article Flood the Zone illustrate the vast gap between moderate Republicans and conservatives.

In his piece, Brooks criticizes Obama’s one-size-fits-all approach to poverty. Brooks argues in favor of a broad range of private and public solutions that include churches, Boy and Girl Scouts, evangelical and Muslim charitable organizations, to name just a few. Only by “flooding the zone” with all kinds of programs, can we find effective solutions.


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